Can I See Some I.D.?

It is very apparent how our society defines identity.  People have been asking us the same question since we were old enough to answer – “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Back in the days when my brain was still buying the whole “sky is the limit” mentality, my answers were always a point of pride. Whatever the latest ambition was (Princess! Teacher! President! Doctor! Actor! Psychologist!), I always felt it was the best me possible.  Seeking affirmation, I always hoped that those asking would see in me the qualities I imagined such a person would possess… and, if I was asking my Mom, she would 100% of the time. This is a woman who still, TO THIS DAY, would fully support my ambitions to become a world-famous model

(“I have always said you had the perfect nose for it!”) or even president (“We need someone like you!” – this makes me laugh because I can hardly even begin to name all the reason we absolutely DO NOT need anyone remotely like me as president).  She is, and always has been, truly blind with love.

So, why is that we have suddenly reached the age where we feel shame when we have to ask ourselves the famous question.  What DO I want to be when I grow up? – Is it so bad that I don’t fully know?   I guess people assume that come quarter-life (yikes!) you should know who you are… which apparently means knowing what you “want to be”…  which apparently means what you do for a career.   Thus…

Who You Are = What You Do

Now I've heard from time to time that "you are what you eat" (which has never really settled right with me -- no pun intended), but the idea of being what I do is somehow even more disturbing.    Or, maybe I’m only uncomfortable with this idea because I spend my days typing, making unwanted phone calls, and fake laughing at the jokes of a boss who seems

 to hate what he is doing (and, come to think of it, who he is as well) even more than I do.  Is that who I am?     (Please, please, PLEASE tell me that you are joining me in a rousing chorus of "HELL NO," because I can hardly bear the thought that even one person out there is thinking, “Why, yes.  Yes it is.”)

And, before you go wondering, “What kind of job can I get that’s going to show who I really am?”-- think again.    Cause, what I am starting to wonder is whether the question was ever right to begin with… or maybe it’s the way we answer that’s all

 wrong.  Why are we defined by our career?  Why do we answer with jobs when asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  It is like we are injecting into

 the tiny fragile brains of the next generation this idea that they will Be the job they Do. Which, quite frankly, is especially silly in a society where the success of the whole is dependent upon somebody being willing to work the unglamorous, thankless jobs (sucks for you Gary Garbageman, Wanda Waitress, Alan Assemblyline and Colleen Clerical).  Is the “backbone of America” destined for identity crisis?  And, really, if we truly are what we say we will grow up to be… then aren’t the only people feeling like their life matters the few who have jobs that actually touch/better/save the lives of others?    That can’t be right…

It seems to me that we all are due an identity crisis.  We need to step back, take 

off the colored lenses we filter our view of identity through, and start looking at ourselves for what we really are.   What are the parts of ourselves that are sincerely us… and, beyond that, who are we in Christ?  If we could start living out the truth of who we are called to be, perhaps we’d stop feeling so discontent with not having life figured out.   It would be ok to be a 24-yr-old without an answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  Or, better yet, we could simply start answering something like – “Compassionate. Service Oriented. Informed. Committed. Loving.”